Side menu

The side menu shows the community's sections and spaces. On a computer it has two states: Full, with the icon and name of every section and space, and Compact, a narrow strip with just the icons, which leaves more width for the content. In both, badges show what arrived since your last visit to each space.

#What it's for

• Communities with a lot of content (courses, videos, events with long programs): the compact menu gives the screen more room, and anyone who wants the full menu goes back to it with one click.
• Communities with many spaces: the badges show where to go first, without opening them one by one.

#How it works

#Full and Compact

In the Compact menu:

• Each section becomes an icon. A section without its own icon shows the initials of its name (one or two letters).
• Hovering over the icon shows the section's name.
• Clicking a section opens a floating menu with its spaces, with the padlock on closed spaces and the badges. A section with a single space goes straight to it.
• Administration becomes an icon with its own menu.
• For the owner and the admin, the Edit menu icon goes back to the Full menu, where reordering and editing sections and spaces live. There is no reordering in compact.
• When the community's plan requires it, the small Powered by Memberfy mark stays at the foot of the menu.

Both states apply on screens 1024 px wide and up. On a phone, the menu is still the drawer that opens from the header button.

#Each person's choice

Anyone can switch the menu for themselves in two ways:

• with the header button (Compact menu / Expand menu), which on a computer toggles between full and compact;
• in My Account › Appearance, Side menu field: Follow the community (shows the community's state, "Now: full."), Full or Compact.

The choice "Applies only to this browser and this community.": it is not sent to the server, so in another browser, on another device or in another community the person sees the community's state again.

#The community's starting state

The state the menu starts in for anyone who has not chosen is Full by default. It is part of the community's theme: in the theme editor, Navigation tab, Side menu starting state field, Full ("Icons and space names.") or Compact ("Icons only, in a narrow strip. Names show on hover."). It changes when the theme is activated (or when you save the active theme), and the Activate confirmation shows whether the menu changes.

Ready-made themes don't carry the menu: using or customizing a ready-made theme keeps the active theme's state.

#Top bar instead of the side menu

In the theme, Navigation tab, the owner or the admin picks Side menu (today's) or Top bar. With the top bar, sections sit in the header, each opening its spaces in a dropdown (what doesn't fit goes to More, and Administration comes last), with the same badges; on phones, a strip of sections below the header opens each one's spaces. There is no compact menu, and the Side menu starting state no longer applies. To reorder and edit sections and spaces, Administration › Edit menu brings the side menu back in that tab until Done editing. See Theme and colors.

#The badges

What counts as news:

• Above 99, the badge shows 99+.
• In the compact menu, the section icon shows, in this order: the mentions in red; if there are none, the sum of the news in its spaces; if there is none either, a dot when there are unread Channel messages.
• Opening the space resets its badge.
• A space you have never opened counts from when you joined the community.
• A space you can't open doesn't count: a private space, one tied to a plan or a group, or one with a padlock doesn't show in the badge or in the section's sum. Nobody can tell from the number how many items a closed space has.
• A scheduled post only counts once it is published; a post awaiting approval, only once it is approved.

#Who can

Switch the menu for yourself and see the badges: anyone. The community's starting state and Edit menu: owner and admin.

#Step by step

For yourself:

1. My Account › Appearance.
2. Under Side menu, pick Follow the community, Full or Compact.

Or click the menu button in the header to switch right away.

For the community (owner or admin):

1. Settings › Brand and appearance › Theme, Edit on the active theme.
2. Navigation tab, Side menu starting state: Compact.
3. Save Changes (on the active theme, the community changes right away).

Then open the community in a private window (or ask a member) and check how the menu looks for someone who hasn't chosen yet.

#Examples

Video course school. Compact menu for everyone: the lessons take the whole screen, and the student opens the Learn section from its icon.

Community with six Feed spaces. The badges show that Jobs has 12 new posts and Announcements, 2: the member starts with Jobs.

#FAQ

Does changing the starting state change the menu for people who already chose? No. It applies to anyone on Follow the community, which is the default for anyone who hasn't chosen.

Does switching themes change the menu? Only if the activated theme has a different starting state; the Activate confirmation tells you. Anyone who picked their own in My Account › Appearance keeps their choice.

The community uses the top bar. Where do I reorder? In Administration › Edit menu, which brings the side menu back until Done editing.

Why can't I reorder in the compact menu? Reordering lives in the full menu. Use Edit menu, which goes back to full.

Does the badge count my own posts? No. Only other people's.

Does reading the news through the assistant reset the badge? No. The badge only resets when you open the space in the app.

Will other modules get badges? Today, Feed, Content and Events show news, and Channel shows mentions and unread messages.

#In the API

• GET /api/menu/counters (any role of the X-CommunityId community): spaces (spaceId, sectionId, module, count, lastVisitAt; null when never opened), sections (sectionId, count) and total. One call for the whole menu; only the spaces the person opens are listed.
• The visit is recorded when the person opens the space (GET /api/spaces/{id}), at most once a minute per person and space.
• appearance.navigation.sidebarDefault (full or rail; default full) comes in the community reads, read from the active theme. It is written to the theme, in values.navigation.sidebarDefault of /api/community-themes (see Theme and colors); any other value returns 422. navigation in PATCH /api/communities/appearance returns 400 (see Responses and errors).

#Through the assistant (MCP)

• "What is new in my spaces?": list_space_updates lists the spaces with news, most first; with include_zero: true, it also lists the ones that are up to date. Reading through the assistant does not clear the badge.
• "Make the menu compact for everyone": update_community_theme on the active theme, with the menu rail (or full to go back to full), owner and admin only. sidebar_default left update_community_appearance.

#Related

• Dark mode
• Theme and colors
• Sections
• Spaces
• Account and profile